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La Grande Illusion
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = La Grande Illusion
| image = GrandeIllusion.jpg
| alt =
| caption = French film poster
| director = Jean Renoir
| producer =
| writer =
| starring =
| music = Joseph Kosma
| cinematography = Christian Matras
| editing =
| studio = Ralisations d'Art Cinmatographique (RAC)
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 114 minutes
| country = France
| language =
| budget =
| gross = $414,620 (US re-release).
}}
'La Grande Illusion' (also known as 'The Grand Illusion') is a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Spaak. The story concerns class relationships among a small group of French officers who are prisoners of war during World War I and are plotting an escape. The title of the film comes from the 1909 book 'The Great Illusion' by British journalist Norman Angell, which argued that war is futile because of the common economic interests of all European nations. The perspective of the film is generously humanistic to its characters of various nationalities.
'La Grande Illusion' is regarded by critics and film historians as one of the masterpieces of French cinema and among the greatest films ever made. Orson Welles named 'La Grande Illusion' as one of the two movies he would take with him "on the ark."[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjfa1GFwmUA#t=4m10s Welles cites 'La Grande Illusion' but doesn't name the second film - he just says "something else" (4m 35s)."] 'YouTube', 15 September 2007. Retrieved: 20 March 2017. In 1958, the film was voted number 5 on the prestigious Brussels 12 list at the 1958 World Expo. In 1995, the Vatican included 'La Grande Illusion' in its list of 45 "great films" under the category of "Art." 'Empire' magazine ranked it #35 in "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.[http://www.empireonline.com/features/100-greatest-world-cinema-films/default.asp?film=35 "The 100 best films of world cinema: 35, 'La Grande Illusion'."] 'Empire'. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.
Plot
During the First World War, two French aviators, the aristocratic Captain de Boldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Marchal, set out to investigate a blurred spot found on reconnaissance photographs. They are shot down by German flying ace and aristocrat, 'Rittmeister' von Rauffenstein, and both are taken prisoner by the Imperial German Army. Upon returning to the aerodrome, von Rauffenstein sends a subordinate to find out if the aviators are officers and, if so, to invite them to lunch. During the meal, Rauffenstein and Boldieu discover they have mutual acquaintancesa depiction of the familiarity, if not solidarity, within the upper classes that crosses national boundaries.
Boldieu and Marchal are then taken to a prisoner-of-war camp, where they meet a colorful group of French prisoners and stage a vaudeville-type performance just after the Germans have taken Fort Douaumont in the epic Battle of Verdun. During the performance, word arrives that the French have recaptured the fort. Marchal interrupts the show, and the French prisoners spontaneously burst into "La Marseillaise". As a result of the disruption, Marchal is placed in solitary confinement, where he suffers badly from lack of human contact and hunger; the fort changes hands once more while he is imprisoned. Boldieu and Marchal also help their fellow prisoners to finish digging an escape tunnel. However, just before it is completed, everyone is transferred to other camps. Because of the language barrier, Marchal is unable to pass word of the tunnel to an incoming British prisoner.
Boldieu and Marchal are moved from camp to camp, finally arriving in Wintersborn, a mountain fortress prison commanded by Rauffenstein, who has been so badly injured in battle that he has been given a posting away from the front, much to his regret. Rauffenstein tells them that Wintersborn is escape-proof.
At Wintersborn, the pair are reunited with a fellow prisoner, Rosenthal, from the original camp. Rosenthal is a wealthy French Jew, a naturalized French citizen who generously shares the food parcels he receives. Boldieu comes up with an idea, after carefully observing how the German guards respond to an emergency. He volunteers to distract the guards for the few minutes needed for Marchal and Rosenthal to escape. After a commotion staged by the prisoners, the guards are ordered to assemble them in the fortress courtyard. During the roll call, it is discovered that Boldieu is missing. He makes his presence known high up in the fortress, drawing the German guards away in pursuit. Marchal and Rosenthal take the opportunity to lower themselves from a window by a homemade rope and flee.
Rauffenstein stops the guards from firing at Boldieu and pleads with his friend to give himself up. Boldieu refuses, and Rauffenstein reluctantly shoots him with his pistol, aiming for his legs but fatally hitting him in the stomach. Nursed in his final moments by a grieving Rauffenstein, Boldieu laments that the whole purpose of the nobility and their usefulness to both French and German culture is being destroyed by the war. He expresses pity for von Rauffenstein, who will have to find a new purpose in the postwar world.
Marchal and Rosenthal journey across the German countryside, trying to reach neutral Switzerland. Rosenthal injures his foot, slowing Marchal down. They quarrel and part, but then Marchal returns to help his comrade. They take refuge in the modest farmhouse of a German woman, Elsa, who lost her husband at Verdun, along with three brothers, at battles which, with quiet irony, she describes as "our greatest victories." She takes them in and does not betray them to a passing army patrol. She and Marchal fall in love, despite not speaking each other's language, but he and Rosenthal eventually leave from a sense of duty after Rosenthal recovers from his injury. Marchal declares he will come back to Elsa and her young daughter, Lotte, if he survives the war.
A German patrol sights the two fugitives crossing a snow-covered valley. They fire a few rounds, but then their commanding officer orders them to stop, saying the pair have crossed into Switzerland.
, which appears in the film.
Cast
Production
According to Renoir's memoirs, Erich von Stroheim, despite having been born in Vienna, Austria (then the Austro-Hungarian Empire) did not speak much German and struggled with learning the language along with his lines in between filming scenes.
The exteriors of "Wintersborn" were filmed at the Upper Koenigsbourg Castle in Alsace. Other exteriors were filmed at the artillery barracks at Colmar (built by Wilhelm II) and at Neuf-Brisach on the Upper Rhine.
An early script version of 'La Grande Illusion' had Rosenthal and Marchal agreeing to meet in a restaurant at the end of the war. In the final scene, everyone there would be celebrating the armistice, but instead of these men, there would be two empty chairs at a table.
Political and historical themes
Renoir used the First World War (19141918) as a lens through which to examine Europe as it faced the rising spectre of fascism (especially in Nazi Germany) and the impending approach of the Second World War (19391945).Nixon, Rob and Felicia Feaster. [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/76799/Grand-Illusion/articles.html "Why 'Grand Illusion' is essential'.] 'Turner Classic Movies'. Retrieved: 20 March 2017. Renoir's critique of contemporary politics and ideology celebrates the universal humanity that transcends national and racial boundaries and radical nationalism, suggesting that mankind's common experiences should prevail above political division, and its extension: war.Pendo 1985, p. 107.
On the message of 'La Grande Illusion', Renoir himself said, in a film trailer, dating from the re-release of the film in 1958: "['La Grande Illusion' is] a story about human relationships. I am confident that such a question is so important today that if we dont solve it, we will just have to say goodbye to our beautiful world." Despite widespread interest in the subject, Renoir found it difficult to find a producer and distributor, having to "shop around" the project for years.Feaster, Felicia. [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/76799/Grand-Illusion/articles.html "Review: 'Grand Illusion' (1937)."] 'Turner Classic Movies'. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.
Class
'La Grande Illusion' examines the relationships between different social classes in Europe. Two of the main characters, Boldieu and Rauffenstein, are aristocrats. They are represented as cosmopolitan men, educated in many cultures and conversant in several languages. Their level of education and their devotion to social conventions and rituals makes them feel closer to each other than to the lower class of their own nation. They share similar social experiences: dining at Maxim's in Paris, courting dalliances with the same woman, and even know of each other through acquaintances. They converse with each other in heavily formal French and German, and in moments of intimate personal conversation, escape into English as if to hide these comments from their lower class counterparts.Renoir depicts the rule of the aristocracy in 'La Grande Illusion' as in decline, to be replaced by a new, emerging social order, led by men who were not born to privilege. He emphasizes that their class is no longer an essential component to their respective nation's politics. Both Rauffenstein and Boldieu view their military service as a duty, and see the war as having a purpose; as such, Renoir depicts them as laudable but tragic figures whose world is disappearing and who are trapped in a code of life that is rapidly becoming meaningless.Paris 1995, p. 50. Both are aware that their time is past, but their reaction to this reality diverges: Boldieu accepts the fate of the aristocracy as a positive improvement, but Rauffenstein does not, lamenting what he sarcastically calls the "charming legacy of the French Revolution".
In 'La Grande Illusion', Renoir contrasts the aristocrats with characters such as Marchal (Gabin), a mechanic from Paris. The lower class characters have little in common with each other; they have different interests and are not worldly in their views or education. Nonetheless, they have a kinship too, through common sentiment and experience.Nixon, Rob. [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/76799/Grand-Illusion/articles.html "Pop culture 101: 'Grand Illusion' (1937)."] 'Turner Classic Movies'. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.
Renoir's message is made clear when the aristocratic Boldieu sacrifices himself by distracting the prison guards by dancing around, singing, and playing a flute, to allow Marchal and Rosenthal, members of the lower class, to escape. Reluctantly and strictly out of duty, Rauffenstein is forced to shoot Boldieu, an act that Boldieu admits he would have been compelled to do were the circumstances reversed. However, in accepting his inevitable death, Boldieu takes comfort in the idea that "For a commoner, dying in a war is a tragedy. But for you and me, it's a good way out", and states that he has pity for Rauffenstein who will struggle to find a purpose in the new social order of the world where his traditions, experiences, and background are obsolete.
The critique of the romantic idealization of duty in 'La Grande Illusion' is comparable to that in the earlier film 'All Quiet on the Western Front' (1930), based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque.
Prejudice
In 'La Grande Illusion', Renoir briefly touches on the question of antisemitism through the character of Rosenthal, a son from a 'nouveau riche' Jewish banking family (a parallel to the Rothschild banking family of France). His biographers believed that Renoir created this character to counter the rising anti-Jewish campaign enacted by Adolf Hitler's government in Nazi Germany. Further, Rosenthal is shown as a symbol of humanity across class lines: though he may be financially wealthy, he shares his food parcels with everyone so that he and his fellow prisoners are well fed when compared with their German captors. Through the character of Rosenthal, Renoir rebuffs Jewish stereotypes.There is also a black French officer among the prisoners at Wintersborn who appears to be ignored by the other prisoners, and not accepted as an equal by them. When he speaks to them he is not responded to. For instance, when he shows his artwork, he is shrugged off.
War
In 'La Grande Illusion' Renoir seeks to refute the notion that war accomplishes anything, or that it can be used as a political tool to solve problems and create a better world. "That's all an illusion", says Rosenthal, speaking of the belief that this is the war that will end war forever.'La Grande Illusion' is a war film without any depiction of battle. Instead, the prisoner of war camp setting is used as a space in which soldiers of many nations have a common experience. Renoir portrays war as a futile exercise. For instance, Elsa, the German widow, shows photos to Marchal and Rosenthal of her husband and her brothers who were killed, respectively, at the battles of Verdun, Lige, Charleroi, and Tannenberg. The last three of these battles were amongst Germany's most celebrated victories in World War I. Through this device, Renoir refutes the notion that one common man's bravery, honor, or duty can make an impact on a great event. This undermines the idealistic intention of Marchal and Rosenthal to return to the front, so that by returning to the fight they can help end this war.
Soundtrack
The score was written by the Hungarian composer Joseph Kosma, who also wrote the famous song "Autumn Leaves." The soundtrack also includes many well-known songs of the day from French, English, and German cultures. The uncredited musical director was the film and music critic mile Vuillermoz, who had been a composer in his early career.
Songs:
* "Frou-Frou" (1897) lyrics written by Montral and Blondeau, music by Henri Chatau, performed by Lucile Panis.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110809051500/http://www.chanson.udenap.org/50_chansons/08_frou_frou.htm "Song: 'Frou-Frou'."] 'Webarchive', 9 August 2011. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.
* "Il tait un petit navire" ("There Once was a Little Ship"), played by Boldieu with his penny whistle to distract the German guards from Rosenthal and Marchal's escape, a traditional French song[http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Il_%C3%A9tait_un_petit_navire "Il tait un petit navire (fr)."]'Fr.wikisource.org'. Retrieved: 20 March 2017. about a shipwrecked sailor who must cannibalize another sailor to survive. Later in the film, the fugitives Rosenthal and Marchal shout the song sarcastically at one another as they have a near falling out. The lyrics speak to their own condition of running out of food. As Marchal realizes this, his singing trails off.
* "Frre Jacques", a French nursery rhyme
* "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"
* "Si tu veux Marguerite" (1913) by Harry Fragson[https://web.archive.org/web/20110809052314/http://www.chanson.udenap.org/paroles/si_tu_veux_marguerite.htm "Song: 'Si tu veux Marguerite'."] 'webarchive', 9 August 2011. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.
* "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem
Reception
Europe
After the film won a prize at the Venice Film Festival for "Best Artistic Ensemble" in 1937, and was nominated for the International Jury Cup, the Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels declared 'La Grande Illusion' "Cinematic Public Enemy No. 1""DVD: 'La Grande Illusion'." 'The Criterion Collection', 1999. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.Faulkner 1979, p. 18. and ordered the prints to be confiscated and destroyed. Fearing a decline in fighting morale, French authorities banned the film in 1940 'pour la dure des hostilits' (for the duration of hostilities).Cordelier, Jean-Eudes. [http://www.iletaitunefoislecinema.com/memoire/2128/la-censure-cinematographique-en-france-et-aux-etats-unis "La censure cinmatographique en France et aux Etats- Unis" (fr).] 'L'association 'Il tait une fois le cinma'.' Retrieved: 20 March 2017. This ban was renewed by the German Propaganda-Abteilung in October of the same year. When the German Army marched into France in 1940 during World War II, the Nazis seized the prints and negative of the film, chiefly because of its anti-war message, and what were perceived as ideological criticisms pointed towards Germany on the eve of the Second World War.'La Grande Illusion' was a massive hit in France, with an estimated 12 million admissions.[http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=fr&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/box-office-jean-gabin-c22691527/64&usg=ALkJrhhMN3YPbBwWyYeJtU2fB4_TaZoWog "Film: 'The Grand Illusion'."] 'Box Office Story'. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.
United States and elsewhere
'La Grande Illusion', released by World Pictures Corporation in the U.S. premiered on 12 September 1938 in New York City; Frank S. Nugent in his review for 'The New York Times' called 'La Grande Illusion' a "strange and interesting film" that "owes much to his cast",Nugent, Frank S. [https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173BE564BC4B52DFBF668383629EDE "NYT Critics' Pick: 'Grand Illusion' (1937)."] 'The New York Times', 13 September 1938. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.'La Grande Illusion' won the awards for Best Foreign Film at the 1938 New York Film Critics Circle Awards and at the 1938 National Board of Review Awards it was named the Best Foreign Language Film for that year.[https://web.archive.org/web/20130526062357/http://www.nbrmp.org/awards/past.cfm?year=1938 "Awards: 'La Grande Illusion'."] 'webarchive'26, May 2013. At the 11th Academy Awards held on 23 February 1939, 'La Grande Illusion' became the first foreign language film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Orson Welles, in an interview with Dick Cavett on 27 July 1970, expressed that if he only could save a handful of films that were not his own for future posterity, this would be one of those films.Welles cites La Grande Illusion but doesn't name the second film - he just says "something else" (4m 35s)." YouTube, 15 September 2007. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.
Martin Scorsese included it on a list of "39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker."
Sixty years after its release, Janet Maslin called it "one of the most haunting of all war films" and an "oasis of subtlety, moral intelligence and deep emotion on the cinematic landscape"; according to Maslin:
Film critic Roger Ebert also reviewed the film after its 1999 re-release, and added it to his list of The Great Movies:Ebert, Roger. [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19991003/REVIEWS08/910030301/1023=review "Review: 'Grand Illusion' (1937)."] 'Chicago Sun-Times', 3 October 1999. Retrieved: 20 March 2017.
The Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and Filmmaker Billy Wilder cited 'La Grande Illusion' as one of their favorite films.
Prints and home media
For many years, the original nitrate film negative of 'La Grande Illusion' was thought to have been lost in an Allied air raid in 1942 that destroyed a leading laboratory outside Paris. Prints of the film were rediscovered in 1958 and restored and re-released during the early 1960s. Then, it was revealed that the original negative had been shipped back to Berlin (probably due to the efforts of Frank Hensel) to be stored in the Reichsfilmarchiv vaults. In the Allied occupation of Berlin in 1945, the Reichsfilmarchiv by chance was in the Russian zone and consequently shipped along with many other films back to be the basis of the Soviet Gosfilmofond film archive in Moscow. The negative was returned to France in the 1960s, but sat unidentified in storage in Toulouse Cinmathque for over 30 years, as no one suspected it had survived. It was rediscovered in the early 1990s as the Cinmathque's nitrate collection was slowly being transferred to the French Film Archives at Bois d'Arcy.
In August 1999, Rialto Pictures re-released the film in the United States, based on the Cinmathque negative found in Toulouse; after watching the new print at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, Janet Maslin called it "beautifully refurbished" and "especially lucid."Maslin, Janet. [https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/06/movies/critic-s-choice-film-a-renoir-masterpiece-refurbished-and-timely.html "A Renoir masterpiece, refurbished and timely."] 'The New York Times', 6 August 1999. Retrieved: 20 March 2017. A transfer of this restored print was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection in 1999, but has been out of print since 2005. 'Grand Illusion' was intended to be Criterion's first release on the DVD format in 1998, but the discovery of the new negative delayed its release."Restoration Demonstration" featurette on Criterion Collection DVD.
In 2012, StudioCanal and Lionsgate released a 1080p Blu-ray version based on a new high-definition scan of the original negative. According to Lee Kline, Technical Director of the Criterion Collection, this release was "night and day of what we didbecause they had better film."
See also
* Poetic realism
Notes
References
Further reading
* Cardullo, R. J. "Period Piece, Peace Picture: Renoirs La Grande Illusion Reconsidered." in 'Teaching Sound Film' (SensePublishers, Rotterdam, 2016) pp. 1121.
* Conroy, Melanie. "The Milieu of the Prisoner-of-War Camp in La Grande Illusion." 'Romance Notes' 55.3 (2015): 371-384. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/610384/summary excerpt]
*
*
* Jackson, Julian. 'La grande illusion' (Macmillan, 2009).
* Kerans, James. "Classics Revisited: 'La Grande Illusion'." 'Film Quarterly' 14.2 (1960): 10-17. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1210345 online]
* Macdonald, Nicholas. 'In Search of La Grande Illusion: A Critical Appreciation of Jean Renoir's Elusive Masterpiece' (McFarland, 2013).
*
*
* O'Reilly, Carmel. " table: an exploration of the uses of food in Jean Renoirs La Grande Illusion, 1937." 'Food and History' 11.1 (2013): 155-175. [https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/pdf/10.1484/J.FOOD.1.103559 online]
* Samuels, Maurice. "Renoir's La Grande Illusion and the 'Jewish Question'." 'Historical Reflections/Rflexions Historiques' 32.1 (2006): 165-192. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41299366 online]
* Sesonske, Alexander. "Jean Renoir's 'La Grande Illusion'." 'Georgia Review' 29.1 (1975): 207-244. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41397267 online]
* Tallgren, Immi. "La Grande Illusion." 'Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence' 15.2 (2002): 297-316, on censorship [https://www.academia.edu/download/61214434/La_Grande_Illusion20191114-22919-soygxt.pdf online].
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